Begin Again

Waking Up

The bright rays of sunshine made their way through the small window of the room. A teenage girl laid on the straw mattress, twisted in her sheets. As the sunlight reached her mousy brown hair, her eyelids fluttered open. Her delicate eyebrows furrowed together, clearly seeming confused. After she untangled herself from her covers, she sat up in bed and looked around the room as if trying to figure out where she was. Her confusion quickly turned to fear and tears threatened to spill out of her eyes. Just as she began to cry, she noticed a crumpled piece of paper near her pillow. She reached for it gingerly, as if it might hurt her. She unfolded it and smoothed it across her leg. Relief flooded into her eyes as she read the note scribbled on the paper. She read it aloud, because it made her feel better.

“I am Ivy Munin. Every time I fall asleep, my mind resets and my memory is gone. I live with Aunt Alda. She is not really my aunt, just someone who took me in when I had no one. Each night before I fall asleep, I must make sure my paper is nearby, because I won’t know where or who I am when I wake up. The King killed my parents, but Aunt Alda always says there’s a reason for everything. Maybe today will be the day I find out that reason.”

Ivy flipped over the paper scrap and read a sentence that was written on the back.

“Look in the locket.”

Her left hand instinctively flew to her chest and opened the clasp. On the left side was a picture of her parents, and on the right side there was another folded up paper scrap. Ivy pulled it out and unfolded it. It had a similar note as the other paper. On the back, instead of mentioning the locket, she read this:

“You will always know who you are.”

As if it were a memory, she knew that just in case anything happened to her, she would always know who she was if she had her locket. Ivy refolded the paper scrap and carefully secured it inside her necklace. After making sure it was safe against her skin under her nightdress, she decided to get up out of bed. Her bare feet stepped lightly on the dirt floor as she moved towards the door. She walked out to the kitchen and found her Aunt Alda making tea.

“Good morning my Ivy,” Alda said with a sweet, grandmotherly voice. It was almost too sweet. She smiled at the child that she had practically raised as her own. Her gray eyes seemed full of life when she smiled. “I trust you remember?” she asked.

“I do Aunt Alda- I read my note,” Ivy said, waving the paper in her hand as proof.

“Well, that’s good. Let’s have some tea.”

She wiped her bony wrinkled hands on her apron and poured out two cups of hot tea. She added two lumps of sugar to both, and then she sat down with Ivy at the rickety wooden table.

“Alright, then,” Alda said, after she took a sip. “Let’s talk about your day. You told me yesterday that you wanted to go to the market and see if you could get us some fabric. I could make you a lovely dress to match your pretty green eyes.”

Ivy sat for a moment to process what was being said to her. She had no memory of telling Aunt Alda that, but she nodded anyway. She sipped her tea as she stared at her note that she set on the table.

Alda reached out and cupped one of Ivy’s hands.

“I’ll help you out a little bit. You saw that your birthday was on the second of June. Today is last day of May, so you will be turning eighteen in a few days. I thought you might be having a really hard time with all the memory loss as you are becoming an adult. I love taking care of you, angel, but who knows how long I’ll be around. I don’t want you to end up alone and not knowing who you are. Every four years, our town has the Juniper Festival during the first week of June. All of the vendors are coming to set up their shops today. I heard a sorcerer is coming all the way from Gower’s Kingdom. All my friends pitched in and we have just enough money for you to have a private session with him. I’ve heard he can make people remember things they did during their toddling years!”